inspo & Drafts
Key elements of Arnold’s character:
- Player’s uncle
- Survivalist
- Protector and guardian
- Gun enthusiast, doomsday prepper, and military history nerd
- Old but agile and nimble
- Will stay on Earth
Arnold’s design was heavily influenced by the top two images on the left-hand side of the moodboard (which were from the original moodboard) as this matched what others in my team had in mind for Arnold. To begin actualising his character, I made two sketches and showed them to my team. The concept sketch on the far left (see below) was scrapped early on, as after discussing the design, we found that it didn’t match the original vision and was leaning more toward conspiracy theorist over military history buff.
I liked the idea of keeping the combat gear quite military-looking but wanted it to look more believable. Since the characters are years into the apocalypse, things such as clothes and armor are more likely to have been scavenged and repurposed. His costuming is a mix of clothing that has stood the test of time and has been recycled. As mentioned in his original character profile, he always has one of his favourite long weapons with him. Our world designer, Anna, was able to tell me the specific weapon: the Marlin Model 1895, which is built to absorb recoil, has usability in all weather conditions, and provides high accuracy and longevity.
For Arnold’s colour palette, I kept it quite dark with earthy tones as this evokes an air of maturity and seriousness. In colour psychology, black is associated with authority, power, and intimidation. This links back to him being specialised in arms, as a lot of special forces where black, navy, or camo combat gear.
Arnold’s design has a lot of elements that suggest he regularly engages in combat and spends a lot of time outdoors. The GDD already stated most of the elements that would suit his character, so I didn’t have to do much in terms of extra research/alterations. Some examples are his camo cape, a long-range walkie-talkie, and bandages. (See finished concept art in Character Assets)
Feedback
After scrapping the other concept sketch and then adding different colour palettes, I asked the team for feedback (numbers start from left to right, excluding the scrapped sketch). Initially, my team wanted to include red in Arnold’s clothing, but as seen in the messages, we decided to change this as it looked out of place compared to the other characters.
Reply